


Little Lion Man

by Pyroai



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel, Marvel (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Hunger Games Setting, F/M, Hunger Games, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-06-30
Updated: 2014-06-30
Packaged: 2018-02-06 20:21:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1871148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pyroai/pseuds/Pyroai
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's the 75th Annual Hunger Games and Steve Rogers finds himself once again taking the stage in an attempt to protect someone he loves. Unlike last time, he's not taking their place but going with them. It's the least he can do. And hey, if he dies trying to protect them, at least he dies doing something more than sitting on his ass in the Victor's Village with the fight beat out of him. </p>
<p>Unknowing to him, there's a lot more factors at play than just him and his martyr quest to protect the one thing he has left. There's an all too familiar face out there waiting for him and a rebellion stirring in the shadows. More things hinge in the balance than Steve knows and it's all he can do to hold on to those precious people in his life and make it out alive.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Little Lion Man

**Author's Note:**

> I will never apologize for the feels.

“I volunteer.”

The voice rings out strong and numb throughout the hushed crowd. Nothing is uttered afterwards. There’s no shock to the statement, there’s no reaction from the crowd but there’s a reaction from the woman on the podium standing next to Jasper Sitwell. Terror flashes across her face for a brief moment and then she’s shaking her head, mouthing for him to shut his god damn mouth. It was almost enough to make him smile, if only a little bit, but the moment is too tense and he feels such a total absence of anything that he knows a gesture like that would be impossible given the circumstances.

No one in the crowd looks at him but they all part silently as the Peacekeepers come to collect him. 

He doesn’t even know who’s place he’s taking up there on the stage. He didn’t hear the name that was read for the male Tribute. After Sitwell read out, “Margaret Carter,” everything turned to static.

The walk up to the stage seems to take forever, and then he’s standing on the other side of Sitwell and looking out into the crowd of District 11. They look horrible. Fragile bodies, starving and desperate, staring back at him through glassy eyes. They don’t look nearly as bad as they did last year when he first stood up on this stage, terrified and shaking while he stood next to a girl he didn’t know. They all benefited from his victory then, they would benefit from Peggy’s this year. 

Sitwell spoke, his voice nothing but background noise. It was a speech that was said every year in District 11. Steve Rogers kept his eyes down on the stage, strangely calm, a very stark difference from the first time he stood there. He didn’t want to look up and see the blank faces, he didn’t want to see Fury’s disapproving glare, he didn’t want to see Sitwell’s always-calm expression, and he didn’t want to see Peggy’s anger. It was bad enough he heard her hiss, “You stupid, stupid boy.”

But really, he had no choice in the matter. She was all he had left.

Standing up there with her was a million times different than the first time he stood there. He felt like it was another lifetime instead of just a very short year. He felt like a different person. Now, he was calm, almost numb inside at the thought of going back into the hell that was the Arena. 

It changed people. It changed him. 

_“No.”_

_“No! No no no, stop! Stop, I volunteer, I volunteer!”_

In some ways, Steve liked to think he came pretty far to stand up here so calmly. To allow himself to be led off the stage without even a parting glance back at the crowd. He wondered, briefly, if this meant he had grown up from the child that first got thrown into the games. He knew it was wishful thinking. He hadn’t grown up. The person that went into the games the first time was the adult, the one that knew what he believed in and the one that would have given up everything for the right thing. He was a coward, he knew. He was a coward masquerading as a hero.

_“Steve, no! No, don’t you fucking dare, you shut your mouth right now!”_

_“I volunteer! I volunteer, you can’t stop me!”_

There was a flurry of activity after the Reaping. Ordinarily, Tributes were allowed to see their families before leaving but Steve didn’t have a family. He had Peggy. Maybe Fury, if he squinted.

It was Fury that walked into the room, flanked by two Peacekeepers. The man was always an intense ball of energy hidden behind a stoic face, but Steve had longed figured out what to look for when trying to decipher the man. He was pissed. He swept into the room with his eye narrowed--his other had been lost in the Arena--and Steve couldn’t help it as he straightened up a bit in his seat. 

“What is your malfunction, Rogers?”

Here it comes. Steve shrugged his shoulders, eyes locked on Fury’s face. “You know me, sir. I just can’t help myself.” 

That obviously did nothing to dispel Fury’s mood. “Obviously. Somehow I knew this would happen the second Snow announced that previous Tributes would be added to the pot. Call it a hunch, but I just fucking knew you would raise your hand to volunteer like a giddy little school girl.” 

Steve twitched. “I wouldn’t exactly call me giddy.” There was a brief hesitation before he continued. “I wasn’t planning on volunteering.” He almost sounded ashamed and he knew that didn’t escape Fury’s notice. “I wasn’t going to, but then Peggy was called up and…”

“And you figured you would go to protect her.” 

_“Steve! Steve, god dammit! Let go of me, you-- Steve! Steve!”_

“I know what it’s like in there. I know how it changes someone. You really think I’m going to sit back and let Peggy go in there alone?” he shot back, brows creased. “She can do it, she can win, but not without losing a part of herself in there. Look what happened to me, Nick. If I can save her at least one kill, I’ll be making sure she leaves that Arena a little less tainted than she would be otherwise.”

Fury almost looked disgusted as he shook his head. “I’m not going to sit here and discuss the status of your soul, Rogers. It’s my job to keep you two alive, and I have to say, it was hard enough keeping your noble ass safe the first time.” 

“Then don’t worry about it,” Steve clipped out. “Just concentrate on Peggy.”

The only response to that was a slammed door, but Steve didn’t even flinch at the angry gesture.

_“Nerve-wrecking every year, ain’t it?”_

_Bucky gave a short laugh as he brushed his hair back meticulously, as if it had somehow fallen out of place within the few seconds since he last touched it. He was dressed in his best, they all were, it was mandatory for the Reaping. Despite his hallowed cheeks and gaunt appearance, he looked great. Bucky always gave off an energy no matter how starved he looked, and despite the lack of good meals, he was strong and looked a whole hell of a lot healthier than Steve did._

_“You got nothing to worry about, Stevie. The chances of us getting picked are slim to none. Trust me, in an hour we’ll be sitting back, feeling horrible for the sorry suckers that have to get dragged into it this year.”_

_Despite the good-natured slap to his back that made Steve stumble as they walked through the streets of District 11, Steve’s smile was strained._

_“Y’know Buck, I’m sure everyone goes to the Reaping thinkin’ that, and then they hear their name called and they have to go up there and--“_

_“You worry too much. Knock it off, you’re makin’ me depressed.” Bucky snorted and rolled his eyes, his carefree smile staying firmly in place. “Look, you remember how I never lose a gamble? ‘Cause I’m just so lucky?”_

_It was Steve’s turn to roll his eyes. “Good for you, jerk, but that doesn’t help me any.”_

_“I’m getting there, you punk! Anyway, you know I’m lucky. I’m so lucky that my luck rubs off on you, since you insist on sticking by my side all the time like some little leech.”_

_“That’s not how luck works, Buck.”_

_The smile finally slipped some as Bucky directed a slightly annoyed look at Steve. “Aw, what do you know about luck? Nothing, nothing’s what. Just trust me. You’ll be fine.”_

Steve wished he could have avoided everyone on the train ride. Everyone especially Peggy, but of course that was impossible. The first thing she did was storm up to him and slap him across the face, hard enough that his head snapped to the side and his cheek stung. He took the hit without a word. 

“What were you thinking?” 

“I was thinking--“

Another slap, this one not quite as hard as the first, but enough to shut him up. “You weren’t! You weren’t thinking! I swear to god you are single-handedly the stupidest man I have ever met! What, it wasn’t enough for you to be in the Arena once, you have to volunteer again? Do you really not value your life that much? Don’t you realize how much good you could be doing out there? But no, instead you force yourself back into that hell hole!” She was about to cry, he could hear it in her voice when she dropped it to a bare whisper, ignoring Fury and Sitwell seated behind her at an ordinate table piled high with food. “You think you’re going to go in there and protect me, don’t you? Don’t you? I don’t need your protection and I won’t allow it. You’re going to leave that Arena alive, do you hear me?”

She didn’t wait for an answer before turning around and storming off into a different car. Steve’s eyes flickered over to Fury, who gave him a casual shrug, and then to Sitwell, who had the nerve to look amused. 

He turned and went the opposite way as Peggy, shutting the car down with a soft thump.

_“James Barnes.”_

_The name didn’t register at first. It sounded foreign coming from Jasper Sitwell’s emotionless voice. For several seconds, no one reacted, and Steve’s eyes automatically scanned the crowd for movement before he saw Bucky take a jerky step out of line. People parted for him as the Peacekeepers approached._

_He looked terrified. Pale, shaking, with his eyes too wide, too scared. It was a look Steve had never seen on his face. Where was his easy smile, his devil-could-care attitude? This wasn’t Bucky. This wasn’t Bucky, they didn’t call his name. They called a different name. They had to have called a different name, Bucky was too lucky to get his name drawn in the Reaping._

_“No.”_

_Steve didn’t realize he had whispered it out loud, and then he was shoving people out of his way to make for Bucky and the Peacekeepers surrounding him, not at all sure what he was going to do. Attack them? There was no chance of that working but he had to get to Bucky, he had to, his life depended on it. His heart was pounding out of his chest and if he didn’t get to Bucky he would die, he knew it, he would die._

_He barely made it to the center aisle before strong arms were restraining him and he was struggling, shouting out a single, “No!” that made Bucky turn around. The Peacekeepers pushed him forward and he stumbled but by some miracle he managed to force a weak, terrified little smile as if to say everything would be okay._

_“No! No no no, stop!” He was helpless. He was helpless, his best friend was walking off to his death and there’s was nothing he could to help him. There was hardly a day when they weren’t by each other’s side. They picked fruit together in the fields, with Bucky daringly climbing the highest trees so he could drop oranges and grapefruits into Steve’s basket from the ground with amazing accuracy. They covered for each other when they snuck bits and pieces of things home so they could eat. They were side by side through everything and now Bucky was walking alone towards his death and Steve was helpless._

_The words came out before he could even think of what he was doing._

_“Stop, I volunteer, I volunteer!”_

_It worked. The Peacekeepers surrounding Bucky stopped. Bucky stopped and slowly turned to face Steve. God, if there was terror on his face before it was nothing compared to the stricken, horrified expression on his face then. But they had stopped and Steve clung to that, he continued to struggle with the Peacekeepers while repeating the magic words over and over again._

_“I volunteer! I volunteer!”_

_Bucky lurched towards him, trying to shove past Peacekeepers. “Steve, no! No, don’t you fucking dare, you shut your mouth right now!” If they didn’t restrain him, he would have decked Steve out right then and there._

_“I volunteer! I volunteer, you can’t stop me!” It was frantic, rushed, but he knew it was true. Bucky couldn't stop him. It was his saving grace, the one thing he could do to protect the most important person in his life. He felt high with the sudden power he had over the situation._

_There was a transition going on with Peacekeepers dragging Bucky out of the way and Peacekeepers pushing Steve forward towards the stage. The fear hadn’t kicked in yet, there was just a feeling of triumph as Steve was led closer to the stage and eventually he stopped fighting the Peacekeepers and started going with them while Bucky took his place, struggling and screaming._

_“Steve! Steve, god dammit! Let go of me, you-- Steve! Steve!”_

_He was loud, screeching out Steve’s name, reaching for him and fighting against the four men that pulled him back and held him down. Steve reached the stage right as the Peacekeepers had to use brute force to shut Bucky up. He flinched as he turned just in time to see a Peacekeeper bring down a baton over Bucky’s head, hard enough that he could hear the crack from up on stage. The triumph he felt shattered in that same instant. Bucky slumped noiseless in the arms of the guards, blood trickling down his forehead, but he was still breathing and a bump on the head was better than losing his life._

_It brought Steve back to reality, though._

_Without Bucky screaming, the crowd was silent. There was no cheering, no praise, no reaction at all from the scene they had just witnessed. District 11 was beat down and they all stood there blankly as Sitwell, ignoring the scene as well, continued on with what was written on his cards._

Steve sat in the last train car for hours. No one disturbed him. He watched the scenery pass by and kept his mind firmly off of what he was heading into. He had done all this before. The train, the politics, the flash and bang, the show, and the death and the killing. He knew what to expect so to protect himself he thought of other things. He looked out the window at the slowly setting sun behind them and he looked at the colors and the shapes of the dark trees against the bright background. If he had the supplies, he would have tried drawing it to keep his hands busy, but that would mean going out and asking Sitwell. 

So instead he watched it, knowing it would be one of the few sunsets he would get to see.

When the door to the car opened, he didn’t glance away from the window. Peggy sat herself near him and followed his gaze. 

“A beautiful sight for a horrible day.” Steve’s only answer was a small shrug and she sighed before laying a hand on his knee. “I’m sorry for slapping you.”

“In your defense, it’s been a stressful day and I kind of deserved it.”

She laughed, but it sounded hollow and scared. They fell into silence, both watching the sunset before she spoke again, just as hesitant as before. “If your friend was around, would you have still volunteered with me?” 

The loaded question had Steve’s jaw tightening, but lying to her never crossed his mind. “I don’t know.” Then it came pouring out as he looked over from the sunset to see tear stains on her cheeks, dried but still there as evidence. “I was supposed to go back to him, Peggy. That was supposed to be my reward for winning. I went in there, I played their game, he was supposed to be there when I got home. What else was I killing people for? Those people in the Arena were just as innocent as me but I knew I had to get back to Bucky.” The words were tinged with bitterness and anger. “I played their monkey! I did as I was told and I let them toy with me and fuck with me, for what? To come back home and find out they killed him? How am I supposed to live with myself after that? With the things that I’ve done, knowing that I’m the one that got him killed, that he’s just another body to add to my growing list? I can’t let you go in there alone, Peggy. I can’t let you go in there and lose everything like I did.”

He wanted to cry. He could see tears gathering in Peggy’s eyes but she didn’t let them spill over. She just shook her head slowly, her lips curved up into a gentle and graceful smile. 

“You’re a good man.” She took his hand and squeezed it when he immediately shook his head. “You are. You really are. It’s not your fault what happened and you’re not the monster you think you are.”

Steve covered her hands in his, squeezing back. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you, I swear it.”

She didn’t argue with him that time, but from the set of her shoulders and the purse of her lips, she was tempted to. Steve was a hard man to argue with, though. Once he got his mind set on something, nothing would sway him. It was a single-minded dutifulness to do what he thought was right and it had been a very long time since he had gotten that determined little spark in his beautiful blue eyes. 

Steve had always been reckless and devoted. It was the one thing that plagued Bucky night and day. How to keep Steve from getting himself into trouble? It’s a problem that has no solution. Steve had never ducked his head once in his life. Steve spoke up, Steve defended what he felt was right, Steve was god damn hero and it did nothing but get him shit. He was a skinny, starving punk who didn’t know when to call it quits. Then the Reaping, then the Hunger Games, then he was a changed person. Maybe things would have been different if Bucky had been there when he finally returned home. 

Instead he was greeted by silence. 

People would only say the Peacekeepers took him and he never returned. He’s dead, they would say, casually, as if it didn’t matter. It would piss Steve off because obviously they didn’t know nothing about anything. This was Bucky, Bucky couldn’t be killed off that easily. He could see it in their eyes, though. There was no pity or blame, but he could see the blunt truth of the matter in their gazes. It was because of him. Bucky had started a riot, or tried to, and the Peacekeepers had to take him away. They didn’t take anyone away unless they were killing them.

It killed the spark. The fight. The determination or whatever it was that kept Steve Rogers up and fighting hopeless fights.

He ducked his head. He lived his life quietly and tried not to cause trouble because god only knew who they would take it out on next. Peggy, probably. He couldn’t allow that. She was the only good he had left after Bucky, the only person to tell him when he was acting like a moron or not. 

He couldn’t let her go into the games alone. He couldn’t let anything happen to her. Taking her place was out of the question, but he could at least be by her side, fighting for her and with her. He knew how the games worked. He could keep her safe.

The train moved seamlessly to their destination with Steve and Peggy huddled in the back, taking comfort from physical warmth of another being that momentarily dulled the fear and uncertainty. Steve knew they would both have to put on a strong face soon, but for the moment they could enjoy this, enjoy each other, and at least pretend that things would be okay.


End file.
